;

found at page 136 of the Fourth Report. He complimented Mr. Porter for his readiness in giving his evidence; and expressed his anxiety that the mind of man should be left free as the wind;" but regretted that this body should have been wounded through the effects of Mr. Porter's evidence. He said he was the sincere friend of the Belfast institution and regretted that it had been wounded through the Arianism of the Synod; and not by Arianism in itself. "It would appear," said he, "that we have Ariaus in this body, more real than professed ones. In the name of Christ, let us see who are these masked characters, who hide themselves in the waters of infidelity. (Hear, hear.) It had been said, they were few in number;' the think ing few.' He trusted they would be few indeed like some poisonous plants, which, though placed at the distance of a thousand miles from each other, yet withered and destroyed all around them." Mr. Magill then inquired for the Arian creed and compared a High Arian and a Low Arian to a high-way and a lowway robber-for they robbed the Son of the Eternal God of his crown of glory. He contrasted the minutes of the Synod of 1824, with the assertion that Arian principles had been progressive since 1726; and proceeded to inquire by what spiritual freemasonry these Arians knew each other? For, it appeared, their clerk was their grand master. (Hear.) After stating, that unless he were to raise up his voice in the cause of the holy gospel of the Lord Jesus, he could not enjoy the repose of his pillow; and that this being the first time an Arian had avowed himself to be such in that assembly, they should view it like the fabled Salamander, and crush it. He made some allusion to the people of India, Africa, and the South Seas, fixing their eyes on the Synod of Ulster, and proceeded to move, that "Mr. Porter, having avowed himself an Arian before the Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry, be no longer continued clerk to the body."

The motion was seconded without comment, by the Rev. Mr. Simpson, of Dublin.

Mr. R. DILL, Sen., supported the motion in a speech of considerable length.

Dr. WRIGHT, of Annahilt, expressed his sorrow that the motion had been made; protested against Arian principles; eulogised Mr. Porter's fidelity as a clerk to that body; expressed his regret that Mr. Porter had been compelled to give evidence; advocated the propriety and honesty of his telling the truth, when he was on his oath, and concluded by moving, "That although this Synod as a body

highly disapproves of Arianism, yet that Mr. Porter, having always discharged his duties as clerk with ability and fidelity, be continued in his office."

Mr. HENRY MONTGOMERY rose, and avowed himself an Arian, and expressed his willingness that auy one should take up his avowal, and deal with him as might be deemed right. Until some one had procured a patent of infallibility, he had as good a right to maintain his opinious, as others had to state theirs. Whilst some ministers of that body thought it right to join the clergy of the Established Church, and were assisting them in their labours of conversion; and whilst ministers of both sects were constantly urging on their Roman Catholic brethren the right of free inquiry-surely it would be only common honesty to grant him what they were offering to others. The measures, now proposed, were calculated to lead to absolute Popery in the Presbyterian Church. He spoke with the highest respect of his Roman Catholic brethren, no one could mistake his meaning, but it was the principle he referred to. He then read from the Synod's code an extract :-" it is the right and duty of every man to read and examine the Scriptures," and contended, that even the Jews were invited by Christ and his apostles to read and examine the Scriptures. We had but one Lord and Master, even Jesus Christ; and should the Synod of Ulster usurp his place, and deprive them of what Christ freely gave to the unbelievers of his day? If ever the instructions or example of Christ were to be regarded, he could see no grounds for the Synod adopting the motion. spoke of Mr. Porter's talents, honesty, purity of heart, and uprightness of life; and asked, what crime he had been guilty of? "We are not," said Mr. Montgomery, "charging him with any dereliction of duty as our Clerk, but we are about to punish him for having, when on his oath before a parliamentary commission, honestly confessed what he believed to be the truth. We are about to injure a man for his honesty! Oh, fathers and brethren, is this the conduct of the followers of Christ? Pause before you so commit yourselves, as preachers of Christian mercy and peace among men." He felt no personal anxiety about the issue of the question; it was for the character of the Synod he was alarmed. He referred to secret measures which had been adopted against Mr. Porter; condemned the vulgar and low humour exhibited on this occasion, and asked, would any member of this body use his common servant in this way?-would he turn him out of doors without an hour's

He

notice?

Surely the Synod would not use a brother minister worse than they would a common servant. The manner of the thing proved the malignity of the spirit in which it was engendered. No notice had been given to Mr. P. of the intended motion.

Mr. MAGILL observed, that he had received the Commissioner's report so very shortly before the meeting of Synod, that he had not time to write. [Mr. Montgomery then put some questions to Mr. Magill, regarding his having consulted with Lord Ferrard on this subject; and it appeared that Mr. Magill had obtained of him a copy of Mr. Porter's evidence on the second Tuesday of May.] Mr. Montgomery then went on to observe, that it would be well if the clergymen and members of the Established Church would purify themselves, before they cast a stigma on them. He lamented the aspect of affairs in that Synod, and asked why Mr. Porter should be punished for doing what Mr. Cooke had done?-[He then read an extract from Mr. Cooke's evidence, in 1825, in which he had said, that " very few of the Arian members of the Synod were willing to avow it."] "You accuse Mr. Porter of bringing a charge of hypocrisy against you, and yet Mr. Cooke had done the same thing twelve months before without remark. In the name of consistency, what do you mean? It is now a century and a year since you drove out one portion of your body; and you are now about to place a moral stigma on your character, which ages cannot remove.' "" Mr. Porter was a civil officer, paid by Government; and that body had no right to interfere in an ecclesiastical manner, and punish such officer for matters of opinion. On these grounds he opposed the motion.

Mr. PORTER said, that his personal feelings dictated that he should have remained silent, but this might be constru ed into disrespect. He denied that the present motion had been rashly made, and said that for many years it had been a state of concoction. He said that these were not random assertions, for there were two gentlemen in the house who had been solicited to join in the cabal against him. Still, however, as the season drew near, their courage began to fail. It was found that no effective strength had been collected. The good work was of course necessarily delayed till a more convenient season; and the mortification of seeing Mordecai the Jew seated at the king's gate, had to be a little longer endured. He said the season for the attack had at length arrived: and although

some were dissatisfied with him on account of religion, and some on ac

count of politics, yet he felt satisfied, the whole of the present proceedings had their origin in personal hostility. Mr. Magill and Mr. Simpson were mere tools in the hands of designing men. Mr. Porter felt assured that his political feelings had their share in producing the present procedure; and that his advocacy of Roman Catholic Emancipation had been partly instrumental in producing the present motion; and entered his protest against the unjust and ungenerous principle, that he was to be held accountable, as their clerk, for any thing not illegal or dishonourable, which he might conceive himself called on to say or do, as a free-born Irishman. He declared himself favourable to Catholic Emancipation and protested against being made a victim to party for having merely avowed himself friendly to a measure which had on three several occasions received the stamp of the Synod's approbation. The present procedure against him could hardly originate in that; and as to the prejudice which might exist against him on account of his religious sentiments, he had Mr. Cooke's authority for stating that he held those sentiments with between thirty and forty members of the body.-Differences of opinion had long existed; and he would not insult the body by supposing, that so long as it retained Arians in communion, it would exclude them from offices of ecclesiastical emolument. The Synod had chosen for its Moderators, Dr. Campbell, Dr. Crawford, Dr. Nelson, Dr. Dickson, Mr. Cuming, (who was Mr. Porter's immediate predecessor in the Clerkship,) Mr. Shaw, Mr. Bankhead, Mr. Dunlop, Dr. William Nelson, and Dr. Malcolm, who were all deceased; he would not name the living man, of new-light sentiments, who had been chosen to fill their chair, as it might be considered invidious; but as the Moderatorship was a spiritual or ecclesiastical office, and as men of those sentiments had been chosen to that office, without detriment to the religious character of the body, surely their admission to the secular office of clerk could not be injurious. But the salary, the money to be derived from the situation, that was the rub against the grain, which had set on end ministers' sanctimonious bristles. They admitted men of openly acknowledged new-light principles to ministerial communion and places of spiritual trust, but were quite horrified at the idea of appointing a person of that description to a civil situation, if it happened to be lucrative. Mr. Porter contended

that the situation of clerk was always held during life or good behaviour; and although the words," Mr. such-a-onc

continued clerk," were annually printed, yet he challenged any one to shew that they were not words of mere form. On this consideration he had been appointed to the office, and if fidelity had hitherto been regarded as the tenure by which the situation was to be held; and if the adoption of a different principle were now contemplated, then, Mr. Porter contended, the Synod were bound, as men of honour and fairness, to give him timely warning of the intended innovation. Even those who had brought forward the motion, had not the candour or manliness to apprize him of the meditated attack; and he called on persons present to say whether the Synod had not been secretly searched for support-but he had solicited no man's vote; he relied on the honour of the Synod of Ulster. Should he be removed from the office, the loss would fall on him and his family; but the disgrace would remain with the body. He had done nothing of which he should be ashamed; his religious opinions were as well known to his brethren the day they appointed him to office, as they were at the present moment. He had practised no deception, he had betrayed, no trust, nor would he bend his body to one unmanly stoop, nor his spirit to one unworthy concession. Should the Synod's confidence be now withdrawn from him, he should ever regret the privation; for their confidence was a possession which he prized most highly; but he had no retractation to make; no time-serving apology to offer. For eleven years he had officiated as their clerk; with what ability, it was not for him to determine; but he would say, that with greater fidelity those duties never had been, and never would be dischared.

Mr. BROWN, of Aghadowey, urged, that Mr. Porter's feelings were warm, that he had made an incorrect report of the proceedings of the Synod, that he had a body of men of certain known religious principles always about him reporting the proceedings. He should, therefore, be removed from the clerkship

were, he observed, abody of non-subscribers; and whilst subscription had waned, Arianism had been gaining ground. Dr. Bruce had said it was gaining ground in the Synod: Mr. Porter had avowed the same; and, therefore, he (Mr. E.) must join in voting him out of the clerkship. He had been forty seven years a member; he might never again be heard in the assembly; and he would, therefore, now raise up his warning voice, and inplore them to purge Arianism out of the Synod; for as the cause of Arianism increased, the cause of the Lord Jesus de clined. He lamented to hear two men bers of that body declare themselves Arians; and deplored the state of their congregations. If the Synod allowed them longer to remain in it, they would infect the whole body; and they could never expect to enjoy the glorious blessings of eternal joy through the Everlasting Head of their Church. For, should they remain as they were, how dreadful must be their situation, at the great day of judgment, before the throne of the Most High, and in the congregation of saints and angels!

Mr. R. DILL would have supported a motion to separate the Arians from them, as a body; but would not sanction a measure which went to punish their clerk, on account of the peculiar features presented by that body. He would vote for the amendment.

Mr. MORELL supported the amendment on the same grounds.

Mr. MAGILL would hereafter move

for the expulsion of the two avowed Arians; meanwhile the Synod must choose a clerk.

Mr. BLECKLEY (of Monaghan) had intended to give a silent vote; but he felt compelled publicly to state that he most sincerely wished for the expulsion of Arians from the body; yet, he could not bring himself to vote against Mr. Porter being continued clerk, because he had given his evidence conscientiously on his oath. He wished Arianism driven from the Synod, for it had withered up the best interests of the Christian Church.

Mr. CARLISLE (of Dublin) expressed his firm belief in the Trinitarian doctrines; condemned the causes which were the foundation for Mr. Porter's giving his evidence; opposed subscrip tion as having never purified any church; would have every man tried by the Bible alone; expressed his belief that Arianism was on the decline; inquired what opinion the world would form of the Synod if it dismissed Mr. Porter from being clerk, and yet kept him a member of its body; spoke of the injury which would be done to Mr. Porter in his congregation by this measure; and felt